A study released last week by the CDC found that more children have access to evaluations for autism and more children are being identified as autistic. The study concluded that actual cases of autism are not rising, but rather better screening and expanded diagnostic definitions are helping more children receive the services they need. 

“This is encouraging because when children are identified early, appropriate supports and services can be tailored to help them, and their families thrive,” said Dr. Kristin Sohl, of the American Academy of Pediatrics subcommittee on autism.

The report’s release comes amid heightened political attention. Health and Human Services Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr. described the findings as evidence of an “autism epidemic,” a characterization that many experts and advocacy groups criticize as stigmatizing and misleading.

Kennedy does not have a medical or scientific background. He is an environmental lawyer by training.

The study found that autism spectrum disorder (ASD) now affects more than 3% of children in certain U.S. communities, with one in 31 children identified as autistic in 2022. This marks an increase from the previous estimate of one in 36 children in 2020, and a rise from one in 150 reported in 2000.

The CDC’s Autism and Developmental Disabilities Monitoring (ADDM) Network collected data from 16 communities nationwide. The study found that autism prevalence among 8-year-olds rose notably between 2020 and 2022, continuing a two-decade trend of increasing diagnoses.

More children are being identified with autism by age four than in previous years, suggesting improvements in early screening and access to evaluations. The cohort born in 2018, for example, had higher rates of early identification than those born in 2014.

The report states that Asian, Black, Hispanic, and multiracial children continue to have higher rates of autism identification than white children. Children in lower-income or higher-vulnerability communities also showed higher prevalence.

Boys remain significantly more likely than girls to be diagnosed with autism. The diagnostic criteria for autism include difficulties in social communication, social interaction, and repetitive behavior, but studies have consistently shown that these manifest differently between sexes.

Stanford University researchers found that girls with autism display significantly less repetitive and restricted behavior than boys do. Since repetitive behaviors like hand-flapping are among the most visible and recognized signs of autism, their reduced presence in girls may lead clinicians to overlook autism as a diagnosis.

Social interaction difficulties also present more subtly in girls. Boys with autism tend to have more noticeable deficits in social interaction and communication, such as difficulty initiating and maintaining conversations, lack of eye contact, and limited interest in socializing. In contrast, girls with autism may show greater interest in social relationships and friendships, though they still struggle with the nuances of social interaction.

Recent studies have begun to challenge the traditional understanding of autism’s gender ratio. A groundbreaking multidisciplinary study led by the University of Minnesota demonstrated that when children are screened earlier and when sex-based bias in diagnostic instruments is corrected, an equal number of girls and boys can be identified as having concerns for autism.

The report’s release comes amid heightened political attention. Health and Human Services Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr. described the findings as evidence of an “autism epidemic,” a characterization that many experts and advocacy groups criticize as stigmatizing and misleading.

Kennedy has called for intensified “research” into environmental causes of autism, though most scientific studies continue to point to genetics as the primary factor, with no credible evidence linking vaccines to autism.

Despite Kennedy’s claims that autism is linked to vaccines, high-quality epidemiological studies, conducted in several countries and involving hundreds of thousands to millions of children, have consistently found no evidence that vaccines cause autism: 

• Brent Taylor et al. (1999, UK): Examined 498 children with autism and compared vaccinated and unvaccinated children. No difference was found in autism rates, age at diagnosis, or timing of symptom onset relative to vaccination.
• Madsen et al. (2002, Denmark): Studied 537,303 children, finding no difference in autism risk between vaccinated and unvaccinated groups. The study also found no association between the age or timing of vaccination and autism development.
• Finland National Registry (2002): Analyzed 535,544 children and found no clustering of autism cases around the time of vaccination.
• CDC Study (2013, USA): Focused on the total number of vaccine antigens received in early childhood and found no difference between children with and without autism.
• Meta-analyses and Reviews: Multiple reviews, including those by the World Health Organization (WHO) and the National Academy of Medicine, have concluded that there is no causal association between MMR or other vaccines and autism.

Vaccine Ingredients and Autism

• Thimerosal: This mercury-based preservative was once used in some vaccines. Extensive research, including a 2004 review by the Institute of Medicine, found no evidence linking thimerosal-containing vaccines to autism. Studies also showed that autism rates continued to rise even after thimerosal was removed from most vaccines.

Kennedy and many in his MAHA (Make America Healthy Again) group use Andrew Wakefield’s 1998 study of 12 children as evidence that the MMR vaccine is linked to autism. Wakefield’s “study,” which only included vaccinated children, was proven to have included altered and misrepresented data about the children’s medical histories to support his hypothesis. Some children had developmental issues before vaccination, and not all had autism diagnoses.

Wakefield also conducted invasive procedures on children without proper ethical approval, paid children at a birthday party for blood samples, and failed to disclose financial conflicts of interest—he had been paid by lawyers seeking to sue vaccine manufacturers and had a patent on a rival vaccine.

The Lancet, a group of doctors including Wakefield, fully retracted the paper in 2010, stating that elements of the manuscript had been falsified and that the journal had been deceived. The UK General Medical Council found Wakefield guilty of dishonesty, irresponsibility, and unethical conduct, leading to his removal from the medical register and revocation of his medical license. 

Kennedy recently announced another study on autism to be led by David Geier, a controversial figure known for his past use of the drug Lupron in autism treatments and for promoting discredited theories linking vaccines to autism. Grier will be tasked with analyzing the data from NIH Director Dr. Jay Bhattacharya’s team and NIH-selected external research groups. 

There is widespread concern that the study is designed to support Kennedy’s long-held, discredited belief that vaccines cause autism, rather than objectively investigate causes, if any. Advocates and scientists warn that this approach risks undermining public health and could divert funding from research and services that actually benefit autistic people.

Kennedy has promised answers about the “cause” of autism by September, a timeline experts call naive and scientifically implausible given the complexity and diversity of autism. The NIH director has already pushed back on this timeline, emphasizing that rigorous science cannot be rushed to meet political deadlines.

Another alarming red flag proposed by Kennedy is instructions to amass and integrate a vast array of private medical records and other health data to support this research.

The NIH is collecting private medical records from federal and commercial databases, including prescription histories from major pharmacies, lab and genomics data from the Department of Veterans Affairs and Indian Health Service, insurance claims, and data from wearable devices like smartwatches and fitness trackers. The NIH is also working to expand data-sharing agreements with the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services. According to Kennedy, a new national registry will be created to track Americans with autism, which will be integrated into this large data platform.

In the last week, Kennedy dehumanized people with autism by suggesting they were unable to function in society.

“These are kids who will never pay taxes. They will never hold a job. They’ll never play baseball. They’ll never write a poem. They’ll never go out on a date,” Kennedy said. “Many of them will never use a toilet unassisted and we have to recognize we are doing this to our children and we need to put an end to it.”

But plenty of autistic people not only contribute to society, they also have ways in which they make society a better place. The vast majority of autistic people do not have the severe challenges Kennedy described. Many are fully capable of employment, independent living, and participation in activities such as sports and the arts.

In fact, a 2017 study found that 61% of autistic people studied were employed. In comparison, the percentage of able-bodied (nondisabled) people who are employed in the United States—measured as the employment-to-population ratio for people without disabilities ages 16-64—is 74.4% as of early 2025.

Trying to degrade other human beings is a tactic that was used in Nazi Germany. Not only did they use lies to turn the population against Jewish people, they did they did the same with disabled people, labeling them as “useless eaters,” “life unworthy of life,” and a financial or genetic burden. The Nazis compiled registries of disabled people through forced sterilizations (360,000 victims) and institutionalization, later expanding to mass murder.